Through the years I am continually asked if I thought someone really "did it" when the topic was crime, and I try not to speculate. Today I will.

Our story begins Feb. 15, 1886, at Crockett's House, a drinking establishment just east of Stevens Point, known to locals as a brothel. For whatever reason that cold February night, an "Indian woman" and an "Indian girl" sought refuge there.

Charles E. Crockett, 30, was the owner of the establishment, and Charles Hoeffel, the keeper of a brothel in Marshfield, was bartending for Crockett this night.

The Stevens Point Daily Journal reported the 40-year-old woman told police that she and the girl, 15, went into the place to warm themselves before they journeyed on. Crockett suggested that they both have a "hot drink," which Hoeffel prepared for them. She stated that afterward, both her and the girl were "criminally assaulted and brutally treated" by Crockett and Hoeffel.

Escaping during the night, they tried to reach camp, but the girl could not make it. The woman told her tribe what happened, and searching for the girl, they found her near the cemetery at Plover Hills the next morning. Her remains were taken to Hatley and buried.

The woman made a complaint to the sheriff and an investigation proceeded - slowly. Finally at the end of May, upon the complaint of District Attorney Calkins, warrants were issued for the arrest of Crockett and Hoeffel for criminal assault, and an exhumation ordered so a postmortem examination could be done by Doctor Philips of Stevens Point and Doctor Wiley of Wausau.

A month later, in June, a two-day hearing was held before Judge Kingsbury. Prosecution testimony was given by the surviving victim, who swore positively as to the events. Other testimony stated that the young girl was indeed found dead and the elder woman was in an insensible condition, remaining that way until taken to Hatley.

The two defendants admitted the women were at the house but swore the women left in the middle of the afternoon, followed by a man named "Clark," who was never located. After a few hours, the judge decided the evidence was not sufficient to hold the prisoners for trial, so he released them.

End of story. Sort of. For the rest of this story, we must go back another six years to 1879, where the same Charles E. Crockett was running a bar and brothel in Marinette. Called a "dive" by the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, they published this story.

A man named Kelly and some friends entered the bar and ordered a round of drinks. When it came time to pay, one of Kelly's friends tried to pay, which angered Crockett for some reason, and he hit Kelly with a billet (length of metal), knocking him to the floor. When Kelly got up, he put his hand on his back pocket and Crockett shot him. After being shot, Kelly drew a weapon and shot back, missing Crockett, who then shot Kelly once more, killing him.

The injustice of the murder angered Marinette citizens so much that a change of venue to Fond du Lac was requested. The Phillips Times said, "(Charles) Crockett, who lived here at an early day and ran the naughty house at the head of the lake, will be tried for the murder of Kelly at Fond du Lac as (mob violence was feared)."

By March 1880, the trial was under way with throngs of people crowding the courthouse. Presiding Judge Pulling worried about the floor collapsing as it sagged several inches under the weight, and the front steps and outside platform had partially collapsed. The trial was halted while carpenters braced the floor.

At trial, Crockett's attorney claimed that Crockett shot in self-defense, but the jury was not buying it. The 24-year-old Crockett was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to five years, which eventually was reduced to three years and nine months, allowing him freedom in early January 1884.

While perhaps his past crimes could not be held against him at the time he was charged with rape and battery, the Daily Northwestern was the only newspaper who pointed out he had "committed murder" in Marinette five years earlier.

So, do I think he raped and beat the women? Yes. Do I think he should have been charged with that? Yes. But he ultimately should have been charged with her murder and being strike two - never released.